In Kenya, Using Tech To Put An ‘Invisible’ Slum On The Map

Jason Corburn, associate public health and city and regional planning professor, is a principal investigator on a collaborative Global Metropolitan Studies project aimed at creating a GPS map of the Nairobi city slum of Mathare. Maps are critical public records that can be used to help slum dwellers negotiate with city authorities for essential public services. They are also visual markers that provide assurance — if not of actual ownership, of a shared record of the past that allowes people to plan together for the future. For example, earlier this year, Emily Wangari, a member of Slum Dwellers International, used the maps to help negotiate with the city of Nairobi and the slum dwellers to install of pipes for municipal water.